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WASHINGTON, Feb 1: US Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged on Friday that US foreign policy, especially on Iraq, was making Washington unpopular abroad.
Changing the policies would alleviate the problem but criticism of the United States would also diminish if its controversial policies prove to be successful, Powell told a gathering of the World Affairs Council in Washington.
But Powell did not suggest that the Bush administration would change policies to win favor abroad, at least in cases where it felt important principles were at stake.
“There are a lot of disagreements around the world on some of our policies. There’s no question that our policy with respect to Iraq is not supported by large numbers of Europeans and in other nations around the world,” he said.
“But that is ‘anti-American policy’ (opposition to US policy) and, as policies change, that attitude can change along with the policy,” he added.
Powell, reputably the most dovish and multilateral foreign policy maker in Bush’s Cabinet, said the United States would work with its friends and neighbours at every opportunity to overcome disagreements over policy.
“The president (George W. Bush) believes, as he’s said often, not in the gun-slinger image but in the posse image — coming together to solve the problem,” he added. In the wild West, a gun-slinger was a man who lived by violence while a posse was a group of volunteers who track down outlaws.
US preparations to attack Iraq, on top of a series of unilateral withdrawals from multilateral agreements, have earned the Bush administration a reputation for bellicosity and insensitivity to world opinion.
“RESIDUAL ADMIRATION”: Washington’s Iraq policy has been especially controversial, with large majorities in Europe and the Arab world opposing the US threat to invade the country.
Powell said that, alongside the widespread opposition to US policy, he detected “residual admiration and appreciation and affection for America.”
He added: “But we are having some difficulties with some of the policies. ... But we will stick with our principles and if we can’t get agreement, then we will still stick with our principles, if we believe those principles are important.”
“I think we can work our way through this. Success changes attitude very quickly and if we are successful with some of our more controversial policies then I think those attitudes would change,” he added.
US officials and mainstream commentators usually explain criticism of the United States as being the result of resentment of US wealth and power, or misunderstanding of its intentions.
The US State Department has spent millions of dollars in the past year on an advertising campaign in the Arab world, on the premise that image rather than policy is the problem.
In the Middle East, Arabs tell opinion pollsters that their biggest problem with the United States is that the United States supports Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.
Many US advocates of invading Iraq argue that it will indirectly help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by reducing the influence of Arab radicalism.
But Powell, asked how the United States could promote democracy, freedom, prosperity and civil society in the Middle East, said: “The most important thing to do is to end the conflict between Israel or the Palestinians.”
After Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon forms a new government, the United States will try to “develop some level of trust between the two sides again”, Powell said.—Reuters
